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8852

Glucocorticoid insensitivity as a future target of therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Review

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Authors: John A Marwick, Kian Fan Chung

Published Date September 2010 Volume 2010:5 Pages 297 - 309
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/COPD.S7390

John A Marwick1, Kian Fan Chung2

1Medical Research Council Centre for Inflammation Research, The Queen’s Medical Research Institute, University of Edinburgh Medical School, Edinburgh, UK; 2Section of Airways Disease, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, UK

Abstract: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by an abnormal and chronic inflammatory response in the lung that underlies the chronic airflow obstruction of the small airways, the inexorable decline of lung function, and the severity of the disease. The control of this inflammation remains a key strategy for treating the disease; however, there are no current anti-inflammatory treatments that are effective. Although glucocorticoids (GCs) effectively control inflammation in many diseases such as asthma, they are less effective in COPD. The molecular mechanisms that contribute to the development of this relative GC-insensitive inflammation in the lung of patients with COPD remain unclear. However, recent studies have indicated novel mechanisms and possible therapeutic strategies. One of the major mechanisms proposed is an oxidant-mediated alteration in the signaling pathways in the inflammatory cells in the lung, which may result in the impairment of repressor proteins used by the GC receptor to inhibit the transcription of proinflammatory genes. Although these studies have described mechanisms and targets by which GC function can be restored in cells from patients with COPD, more work is needed to completely elucidate these and other pathways that may be involved in order to allow for more confident therapeutic targeting. Given the relative GC-insensitive nature of the inflammation in COPD, a combination of therapies in addition to a restoration of GC function, including effective alternative anti-inflammatory targets, antioxidants, and proresolving therapeutic strategies, is likely to provide better targeting and improvement in the management of the disease.

Keywords: inflammation, oxidative stress, histone deacetylase, phosphoinositol 3-kinase, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase






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